From a garden trying to reduce food insecurity to a sports group working to teach kids teamwork, Knoxville organizations are aiming to counter violence with opportunities.
This summer, 13 community groups will employ young people ages 12 to 21 who have been identified as being at high risk of suffering from or perpetrating violent crime. The groups will receive money from the city to make it happen.
The city is launching the pilot program in response to a prolonged spike in fatal shootings that has claimed the lives of five Black teenagers in Knoxville this year.
Similar summer jobs programs have run for years in cities such as Chicago, New York City and Boston. Studies have found that these programs can reduce violent crime arrests and lead to benefits like increased school attendance.
Knoxville City Council approves funds to serve at-risk youth wbir.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wbir.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Shannon Webb-Campbell’s poem “Their World View is a New Home in an Ancient Land” includes a wry opening stanza: “if you think you can hold dominion over flora and fauna, / that a body and life can be property, / you’d better try buying a constellation.” More importantly, it is the source of the book’s title, and appears right in the middle of
I Am A Body of Land, which gives readers a clear heads-up; this is the fulcrum point.
Prior to “Their World View…” Webb-Campbell grapples with the collapse of both her social life and her sense of self after Book hug’s publication and subsequent withdrawal of